MR> Look on the bright side Frank: Without Ken Rockwell I wouldn't have
MR> discovered Petteri Sulonen's web site (he's the guy Rockwell accused of
MR> putting up a "hate" page):
MR> http://194.100.88.243/petteri/pont/Whats_new/a_Recent_changes.html
Now I understand why Ken Rockwell thinks of that as "hate site" ;-)
quoted from article on why most landscapes 'hoover':
>Since most people have pretty bad taste, they easily mistake the
>cutesy postcards for good photography, especially if they 're
>displayed as large, impeccably sharp prints. Hence the success of
>photographers like Alain Briot, Michael Reichmann, and Ken Rockwell.
!!!
>Their photography is pure Socialist Realism, only not as honest about
>its program -- relentlessly upbeat, eager to please, depicting the
>world not as it is, but as it surely should be… and utterly devoid of
>power to evoke anything but the most trite and saccharine-sweet of
>emotions.
<g>. Largely, I would have to agree with him. There are very few of
these guys' landscapes that I find inspiring any higher emotions.
That said, I am not against landscapes - for an example of
"landscapes" I like, look up recent Salgado's work in Galapagos, or
Koudelka's Black triangle, or his most recent landscapes in stone
quarries. These are images that inspire the most high emotions. For
different kind of landscapes: Josef Sudek, Jan Reich. Intimate large
format contact prints of common views, with some magic vision if you
look long enough. BTW, Josef Sudek, who also photographed the
land destroyed by mining here (as did Koudelka long after him), once
said:
> Je to taková přismutnělá krajina. Já nedělám rád veselou krajinu.
> Protože veselá je furt veselá a furt stejná. Ale smutná má hodně
> variací. Víc smutná a míň smutná a ještě víc smutná, a s tím se dá
> něco dělat.
Loosely translated:
"It's such a saddened landscape. I don't like to do jolly landscape.
Because jolly is always jolly and always the same. But sad has many
variations. More sad and less sad, and even more sad, and you can do
something with that".
Now, I am not asking K.R. or M.R. to photograph like Sudek, or
Salgado, or whatever. I am not interested in their work or criticising
them at all. Personally, I think most of their is average. But who am
I to criticise them? My work is quite average too. It was just an
example mentioned by Sulonen.
I certainly don't agree with all what Sulonen wrote in that piece. But
it was a nice starting point of my humble thoughts and opinions...
Now, I will go back to scanning and removing the "pepper grain" effect
from the iso 800 negs ;-)
The disclaimer: what I wrote here is my own humble opinion. I don't
say it holds the "truth" or something like that. I just wrote it now,
don't except to be great <g>.
Good light!
fra
